It's Official!!! iPhone comes to Verizon

Well, I admit it.  I thought it was a unicorn and I was wrong.  The iPhone has officially come to Verizon.  The iPhone will be available on the Verizon network on February 10th and it will cost $199 for the 16 GB version and $299 for the 32 GB version.  Pre-orders will be available on February 3rd for existing Verizon customers.

One interesting thing is that AT&T iPhones will not work on the Verizon network.  (Verizon uses a CDMA network and AT&T uses GSM network.  Apple had to redesign the iPhone to include to orrect hardware to work on a CDMA network and test it to be able to work on the Verizon network.) From the Verizon site "in order to take advantage of the nation’s largest and most reliable wireless network, you will need an iPhone 4 that works on the Verizon Wireless network."

(Side note:  Who else uses CDMA?  Well, just about everyone.  U.S. Cellular, Verizon, Sprint Nextel, AllTel, etc.  The two major carriers that use GSM are AT&T and T-Mobile.  By far, however, CDMA is the most common data technology.  I wonder how long before jail broken iPhones are on Sprint's network?  And can a U.S. Cellular iPhone be that far behind?)

Another thing is that the Verizon iPhone will have the mobile hotspot app that will allow up to five users to use the iPhone as a portable wi-fi hotspot.  Given AT&T's stance of wanting to minimize the end user's use of data, this is quite a refreshing stance.  The Verizon iPhone will "have the 3G Mobile Hotspot app pre-installed and it will also have other popular apps available in the market such as VZ Navigator, and V CAST Media Manager."

The only questionable thing now is that Verizon has, in the past with many phones and platforms, hobbled them to suit their own needs at the expense of the end user.  Will Apple allow Verizon to do this to the iPhone?

It will be interesting to watch how this will effect android sales.  While many source seem to point to the contrary, Verizon had reported weaker than expected android sales .  Other rumbling and grumblings in the tech industry point to the frustration of carriers modifying the open android platform and locking it down to prevent end-user modification.  While the techy-geek love affair with the android doesn’t seem to be over, the general public (who might not share that love) might gladly hop over to the iPhone platform.

I’m guessing that is what Verizon is betting on.

Well played, Verizon, well played.